These are the happiest cities in America

Katey Psencik, GateHouse Media

Monday

Mar 11, 2019 at 2:19 PM

Looking for a mood boost?

Maybe it's time to pack your things and head somewhere new. Permanently.

WalletHub released its list of the happiest cities in America, comparing factors like depression rate, income growth rate, leisure time, amount of sleep residents get and other key happiness factors, and the results were somewhat surprising.

Coming in at No. 1 was Plano, Texas, a Dallas suburb with a population around 280,000, followed by Irvine, Calif. and Madison, Wisc. A majority of the top-ranked cities are in California, including Huntington Beach, San JOse, Santa Rosa, Glendale and San Diego.

Four cities in Florida tied for the lowest depression rate among the cities studied: Miami, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale and Penbroke Pines. Two cities in West Virginia — Charleston and Huntington — were the two cities with the highest depression rate.

The cities with the lowest suicide rates were Boston, Laredo, Texas and Newark, N.J., while the highest rates were in Juneau, Alaska and Casper, Wyo. Cities where residents clocked the most work hours were Anchorage, Alaska and Fayetteville, N.C., while the fewest work hours were in Burlington, Vt. and Tallahassee, Fla.

As far as relationship happiness goes, the cities with the lowest separation and divorce rates were Fremont and Irvine, Calif., followed by Gilbert, Ariz., Plano and Overland Park, Kan.